


Well, I'm Not Most People

by underthewillow



Series: TEA College AU [3]
Category: The Ever Afters Series - Shelby Bach
Genre: But still kinda long, Christmas Fluff, College AU, F/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-20
Updated: 2016-10-20
Packaged: 2018-08-23 12:43:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8328418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/underthewillow/pseuds/underthewillow
Summary: It all began with a burning lava cake. The irony.





	

It seemed like the perfect plan. Instead of having to choose which parent to spend the Christmas season with (and inevitably hurting the other's feelings), Rory could just stay with her best friend. Plus, since their apartment was right off campus, she had a perfect excuse. With all the snow Milwaukee was getting, there would be almost no way to fly to Los Angeles or New York City. All she had to do was tell her parents that she didn't feel like driving that far and another year of tearful calls from Mom or awkward silences from Dad was averted. Of course, she did miss spending time with her parents as December 25th approached, but she had already made her decision. Plus, the LaMarelles had her over at their house to decorate cookies, go ice skating, or some other festive activity nearly every day, and since they were basically her third family, she wasn't lonely. So Rory was pretty happy with her decision that night, nestled in her bed and sleeping soundly, Lena snoring softly in the next room over.

That's when the fire alarm went off. Rory was jolted out of bed by the sound, and immediately ran over to Lena's room. Her friend was already awake, and they ran downstairs, carrying only their most precious of possessions. In the parking lot, a few of the other students who stayed in town were milling about in confusion.

Rory walked over to one, an art student named Darcy. "Do you have any idea what's going on?"

She shrugged. "Beats me." Her brother, a psychology major, was standing nearby, so she called over to him. "Hey, Brian, what happened?"

Before he could reply though, the wailing stopped, just as suddenly as it had begun. Darcy shrugged again. "Must've been a false alarm. Well, goodnight, Rory, as much fun as it has been talking to you, there's a nice, warm bed that's calling my name."

She waved goodbye then went to join Lena who was chatting with two guys from their apartment building. Rory knew the brown haired one. Of course she did. It was Kyle, future industrial engineer and Lena's giant crush. His companion however was a mystery. He had wavy blonde hair and bright blue eyes, the combination of which, she had to admit, was kind of cute. If you liked that sort of thing.

"-then next thing you know, our lava cake was actually on fire! That's actually kind of ironic..." Kyle trailed off, and Lena laughed, her face tinged with pink. Rory suspected it was a combination of the cold and the fact she was talking to the guy who they had spent many a girl's night discussing. Well, really it was Lena discussing and Rory adding moral support and the occasional, "You guys were totally be great together." Thinking about the cold, though, Rory shivered. The weather hadn't really been on her mind, but now that the adrenaline of the possible fire had worn off, she was reminded that she was in Milwaukee in the winter and wearing her pajamas. Unfortunately, the sweatshirt she had thrown on wasn't doing that much to cut the cold, so teeth chattering, she stepped closer to her friends.

"So what's going on?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Kyle and I were just proving why college-aged guys shouldn't be allowed to have an oven in their apartments," the blonde one answered, flashing a smirk. "I'm Chase by the way."

"Rory." She smiled back. "Now I'm sure there's a great story behind that, but I am wearing pajamas and it's winter so..."

Kyle took the hint. "Gosh, I'm sorry. You're all probably freezing! Why don't you come up to our apartment, and I'll make some hot chocolate?"

"Sure," Lena blurted.

"Are you sure we shouldn't be the ones making it?" Rory joked as they reentered the building and headed up the stairs.

Chase waved his hand. "Nah. It's Swiss Miss. How badly can we actually mess it up? Although," he added in a stage whisper, "Kyle has been known to burn water so who knows?

"Hey!" Kyle protested over the laughter. "I can cook... I made macaroni and cheese a few weeks ago!" They laughed harder, and soon he joined in. "Okay, I can't make anything that doesn't come out of a box or requires more than three ingredients, so what? I'm not the one getting a culinary degree!"

"Wait, Chase, you're going to be a chef? That's cool," Rory told him. After she got over her annoyance of being woken up, she found herself liking him. He was pretty funny and seemed nice. Definitely friend material, she decided.

"That's the goal!" He smiled again. It was a nice smile, Rory thought. "Well, if football, you guys call it soccer right? If that doesn't work out, that's the goal."

"You play soccer? What posi-"

"Oh yes, sports. Very interesting," Lena interrupted. "This is our floor, so I think Rory and I are going to change and then we'll head up, okay?"

"I don't know..." Rory looked down at her feet. "I think the bunny slippers are pretty darn fashionable."

Lena shot her a look, but Chase ran with it. "Yep, animal footwear is sure making a comeback. I mean, look at my socks." He pulled up a leg of his sweatpants to reveal socks with giant cartoon tigers printed on them, causing her to start snickering.

Kyle shook his head. "What is it with you and weird socks, Chase?"

"I could agree that it was a catastrophe, but I'd be lion," he deadpanned in response which elicited a groan from his friend and even more giggles from Rory.

"This is what I get for letting Ben pick you up from the airport." Ben Taylor was a seminary student and good friend of everyone present. He was also well known for his affinity for bad puns.

"You know, Ben?" Rory struggled to keep a straight face as she looked at Chase. When he nodded, she added, "I guess he's our mutual lynx," amid giggles. Lena gave her another look, the "why-am-I-your-friend-stop-this-embarrassment" one and dragged her into their apartment.

"I think we should all trade best friends," she groused to Kyle, looking first at the wheezing Rory and then at the snickering Chase.

"I'm good with that, especially if it means spending more time with you." Even Rory could seem the Kyle's blush through her tears of mirth. Honestly, she should probably get to bed before she goes hysterical, but she won't because she's having a good time and Lena needs a wingman.

"Ummm, yeah, well, uhh, see you in a little bit!" her flustered friend managed to get out before all but slamming the door in their faces.

Pouring herself some water from the pitcher in their table, Rory forced herself to take a drink. After she calmed down a little she diverted her attention to Lena, who still seemed a little shell-shocked. "Well, that was interesting. C'mon, Lena, get changed." She had put on some non-polar bear printed bottoms and was pulling on a pair of warm socks when her friend finally spoke again. In their second semester, when they'd first moved into this place, the girls had discovered that they could talk between their rooms fairly easily, thanks to the architect who had decided not to make the shared wall reach the ceiling.

"Rory? What was that even supposed to mean?" After their seven years of friendship, Rory was still unsure why anyone would ask her for relationship advice. She could literally count the number of dates she'd been on with her fingers. Lena was probably even more clueless than her however, so she tried her best.

"You know, for a chemical engineer, you're not all that smart," she called back, pulling on a pair of boots. "He obviously likes you."

"Then why doesn't he just say it?"

"Why don't you just say it?" Rory countered.

There was a silence. "Touché."

"Are you ready to go yet? I want to grill Chase about soccer." She walked out of the bedroom and slumped onto the couch.

Lena poked her head out of the door, a teasing glint in her eyes. "Are you sure you want to see him to talk about sports? Really, what's your hurry?"

Rory shrugged, trying to stop herself from blushing. "He just seems like the sort of person who'd make comments about girls taking too long to get ready, and I'm too tired to make witty comebacks."

Eventually, she did get Lena out of the apartment, and they walked upstairs, quietly as not to disturb the actually sane people who were asleep at 5 AM. "We are going to regret not going back to bed tomorrow," she whispered quietly.

"Eh, it's the holidays. We'll survive. I can probably talk our way out of shopping tomorrow, too, if you need to hibernate."

"I'm not a bear," Rory protested.

"Maybe not but without rest, you're unbearable," Lena quipped, then lamented, "Great, now you've got me doing it too."

Rory snickered and knocked softly on the door to the apartment which Kyle shared with Kenneth, his roommate who was out of town. Well, actually Kyle usually stayed with his brothers, Connor and Kevin, because Kenneth was quite honestly a jerk, but since the landlord only let two people stay per room, he basically just paid half the rent for a room he barely ever used.

Kyle opened the door, smiling widely when he saw who it was. "Come on in! Chase is almost finished." The girls walked into the apartment which was basically the same as theirs but without the myriad of Christmas figurines and decorations that Lena stuck everywhere. Once they were inside, Kyle turned to Lena. "So, who did you end up taking for your differential equations class? I need it for the fall semester."

"Professor Pietro. He was so good!" Lena started excitedly.

As she was not really a part of this conversation and it was about math, Rory wandered over to where Chase was stirring large pot.

"Swiss Miss, huh?" she asked him playfully, looking into the pot of what looked like some sort of gourmet fondue.

"Well, I found some cocoa powder and maple syrup in the cabinet and it sort of just escalated... Probably is a good thing you took so long to get here." Knew it, Rory thought. He's totally that person. She glanced over at Lena who was sitting on the coach with Kyle, animatedly talking about something that was probably academic related. "Ah. So you had the 'do you think they like me?' talk too?" Chase asked her, making air quotes.

"Everyday," Rory responded with a grin. "So where are you from, Chase? You sort out just showed up out of nowhere and set stuff on fire."

He shrugged. "I'll say one thing about my hometown-their football team stinks. Speaking of which, do you play?"

"Yep. I'm a center-back. You?" Soccer was something that Rory could talk about for hours.

"Wing-back."

Really?" She looked him over. "That's hard work."

"So is center-back. The ones I've played with always seem to get hurt the worst."

"That may be true." She showed him a scar on her arm. "That's from a few years ago when some girl stepped on my arm. I had to get stitches and-wait..." Something had just occurred to her. "You totally changed the subject earlier."

He shrugged, sheepishly. "Most people don't even notice."

"Well, I'm not most people," Rory replied, striking a dramatic pose.

"That's certainly true," he responded in a way that made her feel a little awkward but really happy at the same time.

"So, where are you from?" she repeated, trying not to show how much he'd thrown her. "I mean, you call soccer football, but you don't have an accent."

"You do realize that Americans are the only ones that call it soccer, right?"

"You do realize that I'm not going to let you change the subject, right?"

He groaned. "Fine. Basically my dad is this big military hero, so I spent most of my childhood traveling."

"Huh." That wasn't what she was expecting, but it made sense. "Why are you here then? How did you meet Kyle?"

"To answer the first question, I'm studying at CIA-"

"Wait, I thought you were in culinary school. Why are you with the CIA?" Rory asked, confusion etched on her face.

Chase smiled, clearly trying not to laugh. "CIA. You know, the Culinary Institute of America?"

"Oh." Well, she felt stupid. "I, in fact, did not know. But what's your connection with Kyle? See, you're not the only one with subject changing skills."

This time he did laugh, and Rory's heart skipped a beat. Probably because she was so tired. Yep, must be. "No offense, Rory I-don't-actually-know-your-last-name-do-I?"

"Landon," she supplied.

"Landon. Huh. My last name is Turnleaf, by the way. Anyway, no offense Rory Landon, but announcing that you're changing the subject kind if defeats the purpose.

"Just answer the question, Chase Turnleaf."

He held his hands. "Okay, okay. I didn't know this was am interrogation. I thought that I was the one working for the government!" Rory laughed loudly, then clapped a hand over her mouth, shoulders still shaking. Kyle and Lena both swiveled to look at them, probably wondering what the heck was going on,

"What the heck is going on?" Kyle asked, looking at Rory who was now sitting on the floor. She was still laughing, mostly from embarrassment.

"So in case you didn't know, I'm a government agent."

Chase said this jokingly, but they all heard Lena quietly say, "I knew it!" to herself. They all looked at her. "Wha- Oh. You weren't serious. Ha. I knew that... In other news, is something burning?"

"Crap. Nononononono," Chase muttered under his breath, yanking the hot chocolate off of the stove and frantically stirring it. "Well, hopefully you all like the taste of burned chocolate."

A few minutes later they were all sitting around the kitchen table, sipping the hot chocolate that was actually really good, no matter what Chase said. "I blame this on Rory," he announced.

"Hey!" she protested, mock-glaring at him.

"You're just too distracting!" Lena shot her a significant look, and Rory glared at her too, trying to stop herself from blushing. Chase had apparently realized what he'd just said too and was trying to change the subject. "Uh, so we were just talking about how you and I met, Kyle."

The guy in question smirked. "So, did you tell her about Sergeant Chase versus the 'crazy squirrels'?"

"No, do tell, Kyle," Rory cajoled. Chase's face had flushed scarlet, and he was frantically shaking his head.

"Don't tell, Kyle. Don't tell. Please don't tell."

Kyle sighed. "Fine. But only because I know you'd retaliate with an equally embarrassing story. So how much did he tell you?"

"Nothing, actually. He's really good at that in case you didn't know."

"Oh believe me, I know." Kyle nodded his head emphatically. "I didn't even find out what his last name was until we'd known each other for a whole year. By the way, it's-"

"Turnleaf," Rory interjected. "Yeah, he told me."

"Really, man? You told her already? I had to wait for an entire year in case you forgot."

"Well, she told me hers, so I thought it was a fair trade," Chase defended, coloring slightly. Kyle just shook his head.

It was getting a little awkward, so Lena decided to get the conversation back on track. "So, how did you guys meet? You haven't said yet and I'm curious."

As the sun slowly crept over the horizon, the story slowly unraveled. Apparently, Jack Turnleaf wasn't nearly as good of a father or husband as he was a soldier, so when Chase was thirteen, his parents separated like Rory's. He'd seemed surprised when she told him that her parents were divorced too as though he thought everyone else had this perfect life while his was kind of dysfunctional. He'd spent his teenage years bouncing between bases and his mother's home in America which had left him well-traveled but with a severe lack of friends. It was the summer before he turned sixteen that he'd met Kyle. There was apparently this prestigious military camp that Jack had basically forced Chase to go to instead of spending the summer with him. Although he tried to hide it, the memory was obviously painful, and Rory started to really dislike his dad. He was a jerk, no matter how much Chase defended him. Actually, that kind of made it worse. Apparently, Kyle had passed some test to get into the camp and was working with other high schoolers who wanted to study engineering or as Chase called them "the super-nerds." Of course, being the son of the amazing Jack Turnleaf meant that he didn't need to take any test. Personally, Chase never had the desire to go into the military, so he ended up spending way more time with his roommate, Kyle, than any of the kids who were there as second-generations. Actually, it was Kyle who first made him think about what he really wanted to do with his life which was play football and cook. They'd always been his hobbies, but it had never really occurred to him that he could do something he actually enjoyed for a job. Needless to say, Jack didn't like his choices. The football was fine because sports and whatever, but he thought cooking was too feminine for a son of his. After Chase told them about how his father barely spoke to him for nearly two years after that, Rory promised herself that if she ever met the guy, she'd slap him.

Rory and Lena's story paled in comparison. They'd met in one of those pen pal program things that their schools forced them to do. They'd just never lost touch and eventually became really great friends. It probably helped that they were both really lonely, Rory because of her famous parents and Lena because she didn't really have anyone at her small, private school that she could relate to.

By this time, it was past nine o'clock which meant that three very hungry 19-year-olds were forcing their friend to make breakfast. In one of the drawers, Chase had found this ridiculously frilly apron studded with rhinestones which he had decided to wear to the amusement of everyone.

"Kyle, why do you have that anyways?" Rory asked, between laughs.

He shrugged. "No idea. It probably belongs to Kenneth's girlfriend, Adelaide. She's exactly the type of person who would wear that."

Chase had frozen after hearing the name, holding a spatula inches from the pan. "Did you say Adelaide?"

Kyle nodded. "Well, her name is actually like Charlotte or something, but everyone calls her Adelaide."

"Charlotte Adelaide Elenora Radcliffe?"

"Yeah... How do you know her?" They all looked at him, eyebrows raised.

"Well, her parents were emissaries in France, and my dad was really good friends with my dad so we hung out a lot and... You know what? It's not important. That was a really, really long time ago. I was just surprised to hear her name, that's all." There was obviously more to the story, but Rory wasn't going to push it.

There was an awkward pause, the only sound coming from the bacon and eggs popping in their pans. "Well," Lena said, trying to fill the silence, "try not to burn the food this time, Chase. As great as the apron is, I don't think it can make you a better chef." He shrugged but gave her a grateful look for changing the subject.

"I'll try," he promised.

"Do or do not. There is no try," Rory intoned in what was quite honestly the worst Yoda impression ever. He looked at her quizzically. "You know, Star Wars?" When there was still no recognition, her jaw dropped. "You've never seen Star Wars?!"

"I'm not really that caught up with American entertainment and stuff," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Kyle, you let him get away with not seeing it? I'm revoking your geek license."

"No, please! Not my geek license," Kyle jokingly pleaded. "Honestly, I thought he'd seen them. Are you sure you haven't, Chase? I'm almost certain we've talked about it..."

"Well, umm, you've talked about it. I just always changed the subject."

Rory turned to Lena. "I've heard enough. Are you up for a Star Wars marathon?"

"Original trilogy?"

"Of course."

"Then definitely."

The girls spent the rest of the day watching movies from various sci-fi franchises and munching on chocolate-coated popcorn from the resident cook. Rory ended up with them the next day as well while Lena went dress shopping for her sister's wedding. They all spent a lot of time together over the break, especially at the LaMarelle's house, so much so that Lena's older brother, George, began calling them the "Fantastic Four." Eventually, though, the break was over, and Chase went back to his school amidst promises to get back together soon. Soon is a relative term, however, and day after day passed until they melded into weeks and months. It was nearly a year before Rory saw Chase again, and it wasn't even on purpose.

* * *

 

Arms full of bags, Rory waited for the subway to arrive. Brie had told her that she didn't need to buy anything for them, but of course she was going to get them Christmas presents! Besides, Brie couldn't really be angry because 90% of it was for Rory's six-month-old sister, Danica. She was the cutest baby Rory had ever seen, although she may be a little bit biased. She smiled, remembering when she received the news that Brie was pregnant. There had been a lot of squealing involved to say the least.

A slight rumbling announced the approaching train, and Rory looked left, hoping to see it. Instead she saw him. Before she even processed it, the words were out of her mouth. "Chase?"

He swiveled towards her, and a smile lit up his face. "Rory!" She was grinning too, ridiculously happy to see him. It's not like they hadn't talked or something. On the contrary, they texted almost daily and even Skyped once in a while. Rory would considered him a pretty good friend, and he thought the same of her. It wasn't the same as seeing him in person, however. They'd planned to get together during the summer, but then his mother, Amiya, got sick, and he canceled his flight. She wasn't upset about it; that's exactly what she would have done if it had been her family or Lena.

Chase walked over and gave her a hug, a little awkward with all the bags she was carrying but still nice. "What are you doing here?" she asked him after they separated.

He looked her, amused, with a barely concealed smirk. "I live here?"

"Oh, right," she said, trying to sound upbeat but inwardly melting into a puddle of mortified goo. Then something occurred to her. "Wait, why didn't you mention that sometime during the month when I was talking about this trip"

He shrugged. "I wanted to surprise you, maybe show up at your parents' apartment or something..." There was a tinge of pink on his face, like he was embarrassed to admit that fact.

"You can still do that if you want. I'll just act surprised."

Chase laughed. "That's okay. You were surprised though, right?"

The subway had pulled into the station, so Rory started inching her way toward it. "I was incredibly surprised. And it's amazing to see you, but this is my train and I really need to get home to wrap these presents for my sister so I'll text you then and maybe we can set up something for tomorrow?"

He seemed disappointed but just replied, "Yeah, that sounds great. See you, Rory!"

"Bye, Chase!" She waved and stepped into the train.

An elderly woman was sitting by the door and had presumably seen the whole exchange because she remarked, "Your boyfriend is quite the looker."

"Oh no we're not- he's not- he's not my boyfriend," she sputtered, blushing.

"Could've fooled me." Although she didn't quite know why, Rory smiled the whole way home.

* * *

 

Just as promised, Rory met up with Chase the next day. And the next. And the next. Since he didn't have any family in town, Brie dubbed herself his 'holiday stepmom' and invited him to basically everything they were doing. Chase had come too which kind of surprised Rory. She'd thought that he'd have maybe something he'd want to do that didn't involve the Landons, but apparently not. Eric, Rory's dad, had taken a little bit longer to warm up to him than the others, mainly because he was very distrustful of any boys around his daughter. Within a few days, though, he had taken the opportunity of having another guy around and started dragging Chase around to various sporting events. Chase later admitted to Rory that he actually didn't like watching sports that aren't soccer but kept tagging along because her dad was incredibly enthusiastic and told the weirdest stories he'd ever heard.

All of this led up to skating in Central Park on Christmas Eve. The whole family had been together, but after Danica started getting fussy, Eric and Brie decided to just head home. Since they'd only been there a few minutes, Chase and Rory decided to stay for a while longer. They were both decent skaters, so it quickly evolved into a competition of who could successfully land the most complicated move. They may have been decent skaters, but they weren't great so that quickly led to both on their backs, laughing.

"I totally won," Rory told him, while struggling to stand.

"We fell at exactly the same time," Chase pointed out, already standing. "Here let me help you."

He pulled her up and suddenly they were incredibly close. You know how people describe their first kiss with someone as fireworks? Rory decided that wasn't quite accurate. It was more like a crackling fire, warm, comforting, and somehow familiar. It was the kind of kiss that kept you smiling for hours and stealing glances at the other person to see if they were smiling, and when they were, it made you smile even wider. It was the kind of kiss that made you wonder if maybe, just maybe, this could be your happily ever after.

 

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this for a holiday fic exchange.... last year. Somehow, it was never posted on here, but now it is, albeit a bit late. I hope you enjoyed it! :)


End file.
